Foundation Pit

Once known only to a small circle of admirers in Russia and the West, Andrey Platonov (1899-1951) has emerged to assume his rightful place as one of the major Russian writers of the twentieth century. Set during a small Russian town during the forcible collectivization of agriculture, The Foundation Pit portrays a group of workmen and local bureaucrats engaged in digging the foundation pit for a grand building where all the town's will live happily and 'in silence.''There is not an educated reader in the USSR who does not know Platonov, and not a single professional writer alive in this country who would not pay tribute to his mastery.' --Yevgeny Yevtushenko 'Its mere existence bespeaks a man of integrity and courage.' --Booklist